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Roasted Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

I wish we had the kind of weather that makes you want to eat a bowl of this soup. This weather is more conducive to making gazpacho. This soup is good enough to eat in any kind of weather.

First I roasted some garlic to add to the soup.

Slice the very top of the garlic heads off and drizzle them with olive oil. Wrap them in foil and place them in a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes.

In a skillet, crisp some ground bacon in olive oil. The smokier the bacon the better.

Saute' 1 large diced onion in the grease.Saute' just until the onion is softened.

I am lucky to live by really good vegetable markets that sell great produce really cheap. I bought sleeves of these heirloom tomatoes and paid only 1.00 for 8 tomatoes. I roasted a bunch of them in a 400 degrees oven for about an hour.

Here is the roasted garlic.

I slipped the tomatoes out of their skins and mixed them with the onions.

Then I squeezed in all of the roasted garlic. Pulse this in a food processor while adding some good chicken stock. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add just a bit of cream to the soup. I added about 1/3 cup.

I used my rosemary no knead bread to make grilled cheese sandwiches.

Cut them into small cubes and serve them as croutons to eat with the soup. Kids will like this.

Oh, yum! I certainly wish there were markets near me like the ones that are near you! You are correct about the weather, though. Gazpacho would probably be more appropriate for the weather we've been having.

This reminds me of my childhood. My mom used to always make me Tomato Soup for lunch. And if my dad was home he'd have a bowl too, but not before he crumbled a handful of saltines overtop. I like the idea of your Rosemary Bread cut into croutons.

This is a fabulous salad and will be great to serve during hot weather.

I found cucumbers on sale 3 for 1.00 so I made this for the shelter. I will give you the recipe in which you use 4 cucumbers.

Bring 2 cups of white vinegar and 1-1/2 cups of sugar to a boil along with 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of celery seeds and 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Boil it until the sugar dissolves then turn off the heat.

Throw in 2 cups of ice cubes and let them melt.

Thinly slice 4 cucumbers, 1 large red onion and 1 large green pepper.

Pack them tightly in a jar.

Pour the liquid over them and close the jar. These will keep for a couple months in the fridge. I tucked in some garlic cloves and fresh dill as well.

I have received a lot of emails recently asking me about how I make my garden totems. I thought that it is the right time of year to show you and I actually have been making some recently.

I went to thrift stores looking for pieces for the totems and happened to find this cool cement piece for $1.95. Not used for a totem but fun anyway.

I always look for this type of plate to use as a base. These plates actually have small feet on them so you can anchor them into the soil. The decorations on this plate are on the underside and the top surface is flat. It is important to have a flat surface to get a solid seal with the glue. I have used all types of glue but find that aquarium glue works best. I never pay over $2.95 for these plates.

This is a heavy vase from Ikea that I found in a thrift store for 99 cents. These large clear pieces are good to use as stems on the totems especially if you want to add a bird or flowers or something as decorations.